Any word on a pitch inspection given the heavy frosts we’ve been having? Hopefully there being no word of one means there is no risk.

We will be missing Carson tomorrow (I hope all goes well for his partner and their new arrival arrives safely) with Harper and Boyes doubts. We are a bit light at the back potentially so may have to go with 4 at the back again as last week rather than the 3 which seemed to be suiting us.

The club’s preview is here:

https://ictfc.com/match-preview-raith-rovers-h-02-12-2023/

Edited December 1, 20232 yr by Robert

Think it goes without saying that the ref didn't have a bloody monkey what he was doing. Absolutely blatant goal for Raith at the start, then calling time when it was very obvious we were on the attack in the final third and thats not even mentioning the dozen and one stonewallers. Scottish football is back baybeeeee

That was a sore one to take,but Raith showed why they are second in the league.The first half was all Raith and they should have been one up by half time.I think the whole ground saw it was a clear goal for Raith.The ref then tried to make amends by giving every split decision and other non incidents to Raith.I felt we were missing Carson on the right.

Second half better, as we had a better tempo and we upped our game and I even thought we would steal it,although I would have settled for a draw even then.

The draw came and I was sure we would hold on,all we had to do was keep the ball out of our box.

Big Dunc must have the hide of a rhino.We were all wrapped up in everything we could wear and he was standing there in his shirt and jersey.

One loss in 8 is not so bad so lets pick up points in the next three games.

I didn't think things were that bad that we needed Sheridan to come on. In his day he was s reasonably good player but alas.

First draft of CTO Report

 

 

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Chance to climb the table thrown away 1. Dundee Utd 13 9 4 0 33 6 31 2. Raith Rovers 13 9 3 1 22 14 30 3. Partick Thistle 14 7 4 3 28 21 25 4. Dunfermline 13 5 3 5 16 14 18 5. Airdrieonians 14 5 2 7 13 19 17 6. Ayr United 13 4 2 7 17 25 14 7. Inverness CT 13 3 4 6 13 15 13 8. Queens Park 13 3 4 6 18 27 13 9. Arbroath 12 4 0 8 16 25 12 10. Morton 12 2 2 8 12 22 8

10 hours ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

Robbo and Dodds looked like Michelin Men even in warm weather. How would you describe them if today they wrap up like you...and many others?

If they were on the radio today, and they had multiple layers on, you could call them Sumoriseres, summarisers of the game! I'll get my coat!

I really hope DF has a good scouting network, and that he has the names of good quality strikers in his mind for January, as we are sorely lacking in that department. Sheridan gives us nothing when he comes on, and having subbed possibly our best two players, we lost any chance of holding on to our one goal lead. Billy will chase and win lost causes all day and can make a goal out of nothing, while we have no threats on the bench now I'm afraid. We need to bring in players to challenge for the first team jerseys, as I cannot see any of the squad players having the quality to dislodge any of the current first eleven. 

We were never going to go through the rest of the season unbeaten, but that was a very sore one to take, being so close three points, and ending with nothing.

We have an available squad which lacks any quality in depth at the moment, and that limits our options when it comes time for subs or backfilling for unavailable players.

This won't be the last time we lose a game in this manner as a result of that, but hopefully Ferguson can find a way to improve the situation when the January window comes around.

Unfortunately, the way we're run off the pitch is likely to severely hinder the available finances for that, so it will likely need a great deal of creativity and wheeling n dealing.

from Raith tv

😁 Three points in Inverness? Never in doubt.

Here are your match highlights. pic.twitter.com/WdhGk8Frh9

— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) December 3, 2023

Penalty 95th minute???

As an aside, driving home from the game, I heard John Robertson’s report on Sportsound. He gave the assist to Duffy.

What a ball that was by Wotherspoon to set Mckay up.

As mentioned in the thread, we need to improve at throw ins and leave someone upfield when defending set pieces, but my other bugbear is when we always seem to make a pass when a shot is on. It happened several times yesterday particularly in the first half. The way the ground was, any shot could have bobbled and caught the goalie out. 

Goal or no goal. That is the question?

No goal!

The officials surely could not have got it wrong!!??

No arguments from me about the penalty.

Edited December 3, 20232 yr by Robert

Their penalty was as clear as our 'penalty'

 

We clearly lost something when Mckay and Wotherspoon were replaced, but to be fair, I think they were pretty much spent.  Billy in particular had been running his socks off in closing down defenders to harry them into rushed passes.  When defending a lead you need the guys up front to do that and you need guys with pace so that you can hit the opposition on the break.  The problem was that other than act as a target man, Sheridan offered nothing.  Although fresh, he didn't put the Raith defenders under any sort of pressure and that gave Raith time to build constructively from the back.

I also agree with Robert about our shyness in having a shot.  We've been like that for a while.  One would have thought that with all of our last 3 managers having been fine strikers in their playing days, looking for and taking the opportunity to take an early strike would be embedded in the playing culture.  We are averaging just a goal a game in the league.  If we don't improve on that, we will most definitely end the season at the wrong end of the table.  The goal we did score yesterday was very well taken by Billy, but we were pretty fortunate.  It was awful defending and Billy shouldn't have been allowed to get anywhere near the ball.

1 hour ago, DoofersDad said:

We clearly lost something when Mckay and Wotherspoon were replaced, but to be fair, I think they were pretty much spent.  Billy in particular had been running his socks off in closing down defenders to harry them into rushed passes.  When defending a lead you need the guys up front to do that and you need guys with pace so that you can hit the opposition on the break.  The problem was that other than act as a target man, Sheridan offered nothing.  Although fresh, he didn't put the Raith defenders under any sort of pressure and that gave Raith time to build constructively from the back.

I also agree with Robert about our shyness in having a shot.  We've been like that for a while.  One would have thought that with all of our last 3 managers having been fine strikers in their playing days, looking for and taking the opportunity to take an early strike would be embedded in the playing culture.  We are averaging just a goal a game in the league.  If we don't improve on that, we will most definitely end the season at the wrong end of the table.  The goal we did score yesterday was very well taken by Billy, but we were pretty fortunate.  It was awful defending and Billy shouldn't have been allowed to get anywhere near the ball.

I totally agree that we are shot shy, and have been for the last few seasons. We seem to pass it along from player to player when a shot looked the best option. You hear the fans shouting 'shoot', but they never do, and more often than not we end up getting caught in possession and our opponents mount a counter attack. Any shot could result in a goal, a corner, a deflected goal or a penalty, but you have take the shot in the first place. Did we have a shot on target in the first half? I can't remember any.

2 hours ago, tm4tj said:

Goal or no goal. That is the question?

No goal! The ball has not completely crossed the line. 

4 hours ago, tm4tj said:

Penalty 95th minute???

Only if it’s Rangers 

3 hours ago, IBM said:

Only if it’s Rangers 

7 hours ago, tm4tj said:

Goal or no goal. That is the question?

Oh it was fully over from where we sit with a great view.  A real let off 

Not going by the Raith Rovers video it wasn't 

2 hours ago, old caley girl said:

Oh it was fully over from where we sit with a great view.  A real let off 

Ball was right on the line, a few inches from being a goal.

I certainly thought it was over the line at the time, but I'm not so sure now.  I think I was swayed by the fact the side netting bulged, but you can clearly see in the video it is Mark's glove that causes that.  Certainly most of the ball was over the line, but I can't see that all of the ball was.  The referee couldn't see from where he was and the stand side linesman's view was probably obscured by the defender on the line.  You can't give decisions unless you are sure it has crossed the line, so it was the correct decision not to give it.  We may have got away with one but we would have been complaining bitterly had it been given!

Something we have learned from the VAR era is that with the curvature of the ball, you need to be able to see a few centimetres of grass between the ball and the line for all of the ball to be over the line. There must have been thousands of wrong decisions in football before this became a thing!

Remember this from the last World Cup, eventually everyone agreed that the ball had not crossed the line.

Yngwie is absolutely right and IMO it shows how ridiculous the official interpretation of the rule is. As a young referee back in the 70s/80s I found it nigh on impossible to give a definitive ruling on many occasions so had to resort to reaching the negative decision because you couldn’t be sure the whole of the ball was over the line - and this caused some heated arguments I still recall very well.

Even these days, without the benefit of an overhead digital camera drawing lines on the screen for you the decision is always going to be controversial. Would it not be better to have the rule amended so that any clear grass between the line and the ball means it has crossed the line? So much simpler for everyone and especially for the refs in the lower leagues who do not have the benefit of the latest technology.

4 hours ago, CaleyCanary said:

Yngwie is absolutely right and IMO it shows how ridiculous the official interpretation of the rule is. As a young referee back in the 70s/80s I found it nigh on impossible to give a definitive ruling on many occasions so had to resort to reaching the negative decision because you couldn’t be sure the whole of the ball was over the line - and this caused some heated arguments I still recall very well.

Even these days, without the benefit of an overhead digital camera drawing lines on the screen for you the decision is always going to be controversial. Would it not be better to have the rule amended so that any clear grass between the line and the ball means it has crossed the line? So much simpler for everyone and especially for the refs in the lower leagues who do not have the benefit of the latest technology.

Football refs have it easy. Try being a shinty ref 😆